Nairobi shopping mall attack: as it happened

Kenyan troops say they have taken control of a shopping centre in the capital
Nairobi, which has been in the hands of terrorists almost two days after an
attack was launched that killed at least 62 people.

23.40Mike Pflanz, our correspondent in Kenya, reminds us that there is still no word on the fate or location of the unknown number of hostages who were believed to have been trapped inside the building since Saturday lunchtime.

Our special forces are inside the building checking the rooms. We think that everyone, the hostages, have been evacuated, but we don't want to take any chances. The special forces call this sanitising. At the moment they have not met any resistance, but of course we are not ruling out the possibility that there are a couple of them hiding in a remote room or corner.

22.59 The interior ministry Twitter feed is a strange mix of official updates and retweeted praise for the Kenya security forces.

22.45 Kenyan interior ministry says it has arrested 10 people. If confirmed, that's something of a surprise as you would expect the gunmen to fight to the death.

<noframe>Twitter: InteriorCNG Ministry - So far more than 10 suspects have been arrested for questioning in relation to the <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=WestgateAttack" target="_blank">#WestgateAttack</a></noframe>

22.30 Here's the livestream from Kenya's NTV, reporting silence from the mall "and that good news is coming".

22.15 The Kenyan security forces are saying they are now in control of the shopping mall.

"Our forces are combing the mall floor by floor looking for anyone left behind. We believe all hostages have been released," said Manoah Esipisu, a government spokesman

We still don't have word of whether all the attackers are dead and what's become of the dozens of people still missing.

21.45 It is now shortly before midnight in Nairobi. The siege is in its third night with government officials insisting that it is in its "final stages". Heavily armed government forces continue to surround the mall.

21.25 Throughout the seige, the Kenyan police have been active on Twitter. They have offered live updates, pled for unity and calm, and promised retribution.

<noframe>Twitter: Kenya Police - Terrorism hurts us all. To protect a known terrorist/criminal is to attack the fabric of our society. Lets reflect &amp; do the right thing. IG</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Kenya Police - We have taken control of all the floors. We're not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/IGkimaiyo" target="_blank">@IGkimaiyo</a></noframe>

21.10 David Cameron's office tweeted the latest casualty figures as the Prime Minister emerged from a meeting of COBRA, the government's emergency response committee.

<noframe>Twitter: David Cameron - I've just chaired a meeting of COBRA-tragically the latest reports are that 6 British nationals have been killed in the Kenya terror attacks</noframe>

20.55 Fears are that the confirmed death toll could rise higher still:

19.38 Barack Obama has denounced the attack in Nairobi as a "terrible outrage", saying that the United States was giving Kenya all the cooperation it could. He said the international community must stand firm against the "senseless violence" that groups like Al Shabaab represent.

Speaking during a meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in New York, Mr Obama said:

We stand with them against this terrible outrage that occurred.

The two presidents expressed condolences to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Mr Jonathan said:

Terror anywhere is terror on all of us.

19.15 Increasing suggestions are emerging that Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, may have been involved in the attack. Reuters is quoting three Kenyan official sources as saying that a dead white woman was found among militants killed by soldiers as they besiege the shopping centre. However, before its account was blocked, Al Shabaab used Twitter to claim that Lewthwaite was safe.

Lewthwaite is wanted by Kenyan police on charges related to a number of terrorist offences.

19.03 Twitter has pulled the account of Al Shabaab after it was used to live tweet the attack, though other accounts are springing up almost as fast as the website can take them down.

18.59 Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has said that six Britons are believed to have been killed in the attack, however that remains an estimate.

17.47 Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kenyan president, is speaking. The interior ministry has relayed some of his comments:

<noframe>Twitter: InteriorCNG Ministry - As your president,as a leader and as a Kenyan,I feel the pain of every life we've lost,share your grief at our nation's loss~ Pres Kenyatta.</noframe>

17.44 The White House says it is closely watching efforts by Shabaab to recruit in the US.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, said:

All we've seen are the same reports coming out of Al Shabaab ... but we have to run those to ground...

We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about, efforts by Al Shabaab to recruit Americans or US persons to come to Somalia.

So this is an issue that has been tracked very closely by the U.S. government and it's one that we'll be looking into in the days ahead.

The global terror leader warned Ahmed Abdi Godane, the “emir” of al-Shabaab, against forcing sharia law on the local population before it was ready.

In a letter found in bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad after his death, he said Godane should “remain devout, patient and persistent in upholding high moral values … towards the community”.

Bin Laden advised the young, aspiring global jihadist not to harm too many Muslim civilians in his attacks on Amisom, the African security mission in Somalia, suggesting he should “review this matter”.

The letter was dated August 7, 2010, a month after al-Shabaab suicide bombers killed 74 people watching the World Cup final in Kampala, which the group said were launched in retaliation for Uganda’s participation in Amisom. That attack led to Washington placing a $7 million bounty on Godane.

Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane

17.05 Uganda, which has also sent troops to fight Islamists in Somalia, says it has stepped up security.

"We have generally stepped up security across the board in terms of streamlining border security so that we plug all the loopholes at entry points that could be potentially exploited by these characters," said Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda.

16.54 John Kerry, the US secretary of state, speaking at the United Nations, says that the US stands with Kenya's people in the days ahead.

Ruthless and valueless terrorists remain a serious challenge everywhere in the world as we all know, whether it's in downtown Manhattan or in a mall in Nairobi, or anywhere else in the world.

And all of us have a responsibility to remain vigilant. We stand with the Kenyan people.... they are resilient people and they will need the world's support in the coming difficult days.

16.45 The interior ministry says they have arrested 10 more suspects for questioning in relation to the attack.

There were three or four rapid explosions, a lot of gunfire, another explosion and we suddenly saw a crowd of people run out of the exit onto the rooftop parking.

They ran as fast as they could and tried to hide in a corner. Some people managed to get under some vehicles that were parked in the parking.”

Two guys walked after them – they were tall, thin, dark – and they had bandanas on their heads, and they were carrying automatic weapons.”

As soon as the first shots rang out and the public started to run, I got all my patients off the chairs; I made them lie on the floor. I realised that we were under some kind of attack...

I got all the parents and the patients waiting in the waiting room into the clinic, I locked the doors, I switched off all the lights, asked everyone to keep quiet, silent, turn off their phones or mute them – and then we kept peeping because we were scared that if they looked up and saw us through the windows they would probably fire at us as well.”

I saw about 12 bodies on the rooftop. There was a tent where a cookery competition for children was carrying on, and there were bodies lying under there.

The scene was carnage. There was a guy lying right in the corner… he was cut to shreds, actually through two grenades, one of which actually blasted, the other one was lying unexploded on the rooftop.”

Because of the unpopularity of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Western governments are reluctant to dispatch their own forces to tackle al-Qaeda terror cells even when, as is the case in Somalia, they pose a direct threat to the safety and security of their subjects.

Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked terror cell based in Somalia, has been involved in numerous attacks against the West during the past decade, from kidnapping and murdering holidaymakers to committing acts of piracy.

But rather than confronting the group directly, the West has encouraged regional powers such as Kenya to tackle the problem on its behalf. Britain and America are more than happy to provide equipment and training to the Kenyan armed forces to enable them to operate effectively against al-Shabab, so long as, by so doing, they remove the need for Western troops to get directly involved in the fight.

Consequently, since the summer of 2011, Kenya has been at the forefront of the military campaign to destroy al-Shabaab's terrorist infrastructure in Somalia, a policy that has made the African state a prime target for retaliation.

16.22 If you aren't following Inspector General Kimaiyo on Twitter, you can find him @IGkimaiyo. He has some more for us:

<noframe>Twitter: David Kimaiyo - Our Multi-Agencies have gunned down 2 &amp; injured several others. I commend the officers for their bravery &amp; the public for its calmness. IG</noframe>

16.15 David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of the Kenyan national police, has echoed the interior ministry's words that forces have taken control of all the floors... although his tweet has rather more flourish than the earlier one.

<noframe>Twitter: David Kimaiyo - Taken control of all the floors. We're not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them. IG</noframe>

16.01 The Kenyan Defence Forces has tweeted a lot of information in the last two minutes - they have confirmed that three terrorists have been killed so far, with a few others suffering injuries.

A fire started in the building by the terrorists to distract the operation was being managed.

<noframe>Twitter: Kenya Defence Forces - In the last 24hours, 10 more bodies have been retrieved from the building</noframe>

15.56 Canada's CBC has information on two Canadians who died in the attack.

The first was Annemarie Desloges, a 29-year-old who worked at the embassy, who was off-duty shopping at the shopping mall when they attacked.

A second who died was Naguib Damji, from Vancouver, who was having a coffee at the mall when the attack began, He died after a large explosion, suffering a heart attack.

15.52 Rohit Kachrool, an ITV journalist, has tweeted that he spoke to a British mother and son who were caught up in the standoff.

<noframe>Twitter: Rohit Kachroo - British mum and son tell me they were caught up in Nairobi stand-off. Held up for 6hrs with 44 other customers in a mobile phone shop</noframe>

15.48 The Independent has compiled an article detailing the tweets of various survivors, among them Kamal Kaur, a journalist whose friend Ruhila Adatia was killed.

<noframe>Twitter: Æ¸Ó&oelig;Æ· Kamal Kaur Æ¸Ó&oelig;Æ· - <a href="http://www.twitter.com/MikaSingh" target="_blank">@MikaSingh</a> My son missed a bullet by one inch. Both kids have been hurt. I was there. It was horrible.</noframe>

15.41 According to CNN, Kenyan authorities have arrested "around four" on suspicion of involvement in the attack.

Our hearts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We share their grief and pain. We know from personal experience of the suffering caused by these fatally misguided killers.

We stand resolute with our Kenyan friends and partners in this ongoing fight against our common enemies.

The first thing to say is that the attackers in Westgate are not Muslims. They are a complete dishonor to the faith.

Tragically they have been brainwashed into destroying innocent lives, theirs included. What they regard as a glory to the faith only damages it.

I draw attention to the recent fatwa issued by 160 of Somalia’s most distinguished religious scholars denouncing Al Shabaab categorically and declaring it was a religious duty not to protect them but to turn them into the authorities.

Be under no illusion: these men and women are without religion.

14.49 Justin Muturi, speaker of Kenya's national assembly, says that allowances for MPs for tomorrow's sitting will be donated to victims of the attack. Kenyan MPs are the best paid in the world.

Shots were being fired every 30 seconds. A gunman came towards us. He saw us and opened fire. I think there were about 15 of us, most of them were dead. After firing at us he left. I was lying on top of my children. Thankfully they were not hurt.

14.23 Samantha Lewthwaite has been "elevated" to "semi-mythical status" since travelling to the region, according to Raffaelo Pantucci, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Servcies Institute (RUSI).

There has been a lot of speculation about it. Samantha Lewthwaite, since she appeared in East Africa, has been elevated in some ways to a semi-mythical status.

I don't think we've had any concrete evidence of her being involved in this incident, but the fact of her being mentioned in this context is not surprising because of her connections, and it is known that she is somewhere in East Africa.

14.18 Diplomatic and Kenyan sources have been speaking to Mike Pflanz, our Nairobi correspondent, who says there is "no indication" any Britons were involved in the assault.

A diplomatic sources does not believe there are any other Brits still in as hostages...

Kenya's interior ministry says no women were involved, but two men were dressed as women to make it easier to get into the mall in the first place.

Multiple security sources with contacts in Shabaab and Kenyan intelligence say that they have heard the reports only in the media, and although they cannot absolutely rule it out, they have no info from any of their sources to confirm a white woman was involved.

14.09 The Kenyan interior ministry has confirmed that 62 people are dead and 58 are missing.

13.52 Jamal Osman, a journalist who works with ITN and Channel 4 News, says he has spoken to al-Shabaab, who have told him that their fighters are watching the television on the siege inside the mall.

13.15 Kenya Chief of Defence forces Gen. Julius Karangi said fighters from an array of nations participated in the attack.

"We have an idea who this people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world," he said.

13.02 Senior Kenyan intelligence sources have told CNN that surveillance video from inside the mall appear to show a white woman taking part. Mr Lenku has said all those taking part were men.

12.46 Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has confirmed that a fourth British national has been killed.

COBR met this morning and had an updated assessment of the situation. I can confirm that there is a fourth British national confirmed dead and the next of kin have been informed. We’re in close touch with the Kenyan authorities and we stand ready to provide them with any additional assistance they require.

We’ll be monitoring the situation throughout the day and the Prime Minister is returning to London to chair a further COBR meeting later this afternoon.

12.41 The number of hostages and missing persons has reduced drastically according to Ole Lenku, the interior minister.

12.36Joseph Ole Lenku, the Kenyan Interior Minister, told a press conference shortly after the mall caught fire that they had control of the perimetre and their security forces were inside flushing out any remaining terrorists.

He said that "most" of the hostages who remained in the building had been freed, and two assailants were killed this morning.

He dismissed reports that women were among the mall attackers - but said that he believed some of them may have dressed as women.

He added that the explosions heard outside the mall were caused by Kenyan forces storming the building, but the fire was started by the terrorists setting fire to mattresses in shops inside.

As he spoke, crowds gathered to stare at the billowing smoke and they were cleared by Kenyan police using tear gas - there have been fears of a secondary attack in the chaos outside the mall.

"We want to say that the country is secure," Mr Ole Lenku. "We encourage Kenyans to remain calm and vigilant."

12.25 Police Chief David Kimaiyo has paid tribute to his response team, saying that the police are gaining an advantage over the attackers.

Thumbs up to our multi-agency team, we have just managed to rescue some hostages... We're increasingly gaining advantage of the attackers.

A statement from Phyllis Kandie, the cabinet secretary for commerce and tourism insisted that prospective visitors to the country would be safe.

The tourism sector joins other Kenyans in consoling the bereaved families, including those of foreigners, who have lost their lives during the Westgate attacks. We wish to assure tourists that Kenya is peaceful and our security agencies are doing everything possible to ensure that everyone is safe. Visitors are thus welcome to visit all our tourist facilities across the country which are operating normally.

Tour operators and travel agents have confirmed that tourism activities continue uninterrupted. The government has also scaled up security in other social places across the country.

12.00 The latest from Aislinn Laing, camped outside the mall right now:

As journalists gathered for a press conference with the police chief at the triage centre near to Westgate mall, there were a series of massive explosions from outside.

Eyewitnesses, mainly medical staff, said they counted up to ten loud bangs before thick plumes of smoke rose from the direction of the mall.

"That's it, it's over and the Westgate's gone," one said.

As the smoke increased, there were shouts of "fire! Fire!"

Rescue officials told The Telegraph that the area had been cleared for the fire brigade to move in.

"They're refusing until they have bulletproof jackets," one said.

As crowds gathered to stare at what was one of Nairobi's most popular malls, several military trucks raced into the compound bearing soldiers bristling with guns and ammunition belts. One smiled wryly as photographers gathered around him. Others shook their heads in disbelief.

11.55 Aislinn Laing says that rescue officials are shouting that the fire trucks are refusing to go in unless they are provided with bullet proof jackets.

11.50 Sky News is now reporting that the explosion was an attempt to blow through the mall's roof by Kenyan forces.

Juliet McKoen, 58, his former landlady in Shoreditch, East London, told the Telegraph: “He was a good guy, a really nice guy with a vision and a sense of freedom.

“He was out there long hours and he was committed to his work. It’s a horrible, horrible way to die.”

Dr Yavuz, a malaria specialist with a Harvard doctorate who was born in the Netherlands, worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Kenya and reportedly recently met with former US president Bill Clinton.

Friends posted tributes to the couple on social media.

Lettice Bell, a friend of Mr Langdon’s from London who had worked with him in Uganda, wrote on Facebook: “In memory of my two dear friends who tragically died in the Nairobi attacks. The world has lost two diamonds and I know they will be missed by everyone fortunate enough to meet them.”

11.28Jerome Starkey of The Times says that volunteers at the Oshwal triage centre are dressed in bin bags, so they can carry out the dead. He is also reporting that explosions have been heard from the mall.

11.15 A COBRA meeting has been told that there are now four British fatalities from the crisis. The Foreign Office has said it could still rise.

<noframe>Twitter: Tom Newton Dunn - BREAKING: There are now four British fatalities from the Kenya hostage crisis, a COBRA meeting has just been told.</noframe>

11.12 Mohammed Ali, Chief Investigations Editor at KTN, has tweeted a picture of people that may be the attackers. It is CCTV footage of two men, carrying guns. They are not in army fatigues.

<noframe>Twitter: Mohammed Ali - Are these the pple that we are dealing with? They fit the eye witness description. <a href="http://t.co/4WTqZAjca5" target="_blank">http://t.co/4WTqZAjca5</a></noframe>

11.01 An interesting take in why Al-Shabaab has perpetrated this attack. Ken Menkhaus, professor at Davidson College in the US, says that dramatic attacks such as this can be seen as an attempt to bolster their flagging reputation at home.

Paradoxically, a weakened Shebab is a greater threat outside Somalia than a stronger Shabaab

10.46 Kenya's police inspector general, David Kimaiyo, has told Reuters that security forces had "rescued more hostages". Several people in the past two day have emerged after hiding rather than being held at gunpoint.

10.43 Tony Abbott has become the latest leader to condemn the Nairobi attacks. The Australian prime minister, on behalf of the government released this statement:

The actions of this group of extremists have caused extensive loss of life and injury to many innocent people. That an Australian was among those killed in the attack is a terrible reminder that Australia is not immune from acts of terrorism around the world and that Al Qaeda-linked groups continue to present a serious global threat.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the Australian victim and with all families of those killed and wounded in this attack, including the many Kenyans.

10.03 Col Cyrus Oguna of the Kenyan army has told The Standard Digital that most of the floors have been secured in the operation. He confirmed four soldiers were slightly injuredi n the gunfire exchange and were receiving treatment.

09.54 Aislinn Laing reports back that after lying on her stomach for 20 minutes as security staff at the triage race around, the panic was actually started bya man who tried to grab a gun. It is unclear what the man's intentions were but he certainly caused panic.

09.40 Sheikh Abulaziz Abu Muscab, the Shabaab spokesman for military operations, has done a Q&A with Al-Jazeera, where he attempts to justify their attack.

The place we attacked is Westgate shopping mall. It is a place where tourists from across the world come to shop, where diplomats gather. It is a place where Kenya's decision-makers go to relax and enjoy themselves. Westgate is a place where there are Jewish and American shops. So we have to attack them.

On civilian deaths, Kenya should first be asked why they bombed innocent Somali civilians in refugee camps, why they bombed innocent people in Gedo and Jubba regions. They should be asked that first before us.

09.35 The latest from the Red Cross is that 69 are dead with 63 missing.

09.13 Israeli security officials warned that the Westgate mall was a prime target for a terrorism target, according to The Times, as several cafes and restaurants are Israeli-owned, including the Artcaffe, which was the apparent entry point for the attack.

09.03Mike Pflanz, our Nairobi correspondent, reports that some of the Westgate attackers have been killed, with the remaining ones contained, holding an unknown number of hostages.

09.00 Daniel Howden of the Independent says Kenyans have volunteers thousands of dollars in support of the Westgate victims:

<noframe>Twitter: Daniel Howden - Kenyans have volunteered more than $300,000 to a mobile money donation line in support of victims of <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Westgate" target="_blank">#Westgate</a> <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Kenya" target="_blank">#Kenya</a></noframe>

08.38 Con Coughlin, the Telegraph's Defence Editor, is speaking on Sky News. He says that some of the fighters will keep going to the bitter end, but others have an "exit strategy" and will slope off.

Britain is very much involved in an international effort to try and stop al-Shabaab in Somalia and in that respect Kenya is a very important ally... this is a very complicated jigsaw.

08.35 Colin Freeman, who has extensive knowledge of Somalia and al-Shabaab, has a fascinating insight into the group. he tells a story from 2006 when he was in Mogadishu, reporting on a rare outbreak of peace following 15 years of civil war.

One of the Courts' strategies was to conscript the warlords' footsoldiers into their own forces, sending them to religious boot camps for military training and Koranic "rehabilitation".

In one of my few reporting triumphs in Somalia – others have been a disaster – we got access to one of these camps one day, watching the new recruits goose-step up and down on a dusty parade ground outside of town, chanting "Allah Akbhar".

Made of rapists, murderers and ex-drug addicts, many of whom were missing various eyes, hands and ears, they were a scary bunch. Indeed, judging by the words of their trainer, a man called Colonel Abukar Sheikh Mohamed, the old drill sergeant's phrase "horrible little men" might have been specially coined for them...

What these would-be holy warriors thought of their new vocation, I never found out. When I tried to interview a few of them after drill practice ended, they gathered around me in an eager crowd, apparently keen to speak.

Then I felt the hand of my fixer on my shoulder, pulling me out. What had seemed like a friendly huddle, he said, was in fact probably a prelude to them robbing me. He knew this because it was because it was exactly what had happened to the last journalist he'd brought there, a Spaniard who'd been relieved of his cameras.

He also pointed out how a lot of them seemed nervous and fidgety, constantly glancing around them. "That is the sign of people who have killed many times, maybe a dozen or more," he said. "Always checking that nobody is coming to take revenge.”

The really worrying twist to this tale, though, was that these were apparently one of the less scary of the Courts' various military factions. As we left the camp, I asked the fixer if we had just come to face to with Al Shebab, about whom little was known back then except that they were one of the Courts’ affiliated military groups. No, came the abrupt answer. Al Shabab were a much radical, dangerous bunch. They would never agree to meet a Westerner like me in the first place. And if they did, I might not survive the encounter.

08.27 In the 'Little Mogadishu' quarter of Nairobi, Somalis fear that the attack could trigger a violent backlash against them, according to Reuters.

In the congested Eastleigh neighbourhood, memories were still fresh of the mobs who targeted homes and shops in November after a suspected al Shabaab attack on a minibus killed nine.

"A mob of youths can ... attack us like last time," said Mohamed Warsame, sitting next to a stall selling "khat" leaves, which are chewed as a stimulant across the Horn of Africa.

The elderly man said he expected the police would at least mount more raids to round up illegal immigrants and suspected militants.

Groups of Somali men talked in hushed tones and at one electronics shop, the owner changed channel to switch from the live coverage of the mall assault drama to a tennis match.

"I don't think those people who attacked the mall are true Muslims. Islam does not support killing of the innocent. Anyone who kills an innocent person has killed humanity," said a woman in her 40s who would only gave her first name, Zuleka.

08.22 Mohamed Ali Nur, Somalia's ambassador to Kenya, has told the BBC that both countries "are on the same side".

The couple was based in east Africa and had reportedly travelled to Nairobi for its medical facilities. Dr Yavuz, a malaria specialist with a Harvard doctorate, was born in the Netherlands and was eight months pregnant.

Mr Langdon, 33, a dual citizen who was born in the Australian state of Tasmania, worked on projects across Africa and recently gave a TED talk in Poland about his work. He was a founding director of the architecture firm Regional Associates, which has offices in London and Melbourne and has designed buildings across Africa. He has spent most of the past four years in Africa and has done pro bono work for a hospital in Kenya.

Dr Yavuz, a public health expert, reportedly recently met with former US president Bill Clinton.

07.30 Al-Shabaab's latest Twitter username @HSM_Press2, appears to have been suspended by the social networking site, although a couple seem to still be functioning.

07.15 David Cameron has cut short an annual trip to the Queen's estate at Balmoral and is returning to London in wake of the Kenyan terrorist attacks. This afternoon he will chair a meeting of COBRA, the Government's crisis response committee.

COBRA stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room, where the meeting will take place.

It follows the news that at least three Britons have been killed in the attacks and claims that British nationals were among the terrorists.

06.55 Somali Shabaab militants have issued a threat to kill hostages they are holding in the Nairobi shopping mall as Kenyan troops move to end their siege.

“We authorise the mujahedeen inside the building to take actions against the prisoners as much as they are pressed,” Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement posted on an Islamist website, as reported by AFP.

“We are telling Christians advancing onto the mujahedeen to have mercy for their prisoners who will bear the brunt of any force directed against the mujahedeen,” Rage added.

The al-Qaeda linked group claim to be in contact with the fighters inside the mall. They also said the gunmen were battling both Kenyan and Israeli forces. They did not give any details as to how many people were being held.

06.35 The Telegraph's Aislinn Laing is at the Westgate Mall this morning:

06.20 As the operation to attempt to free the remaining hostages continues, the Kenyan military are giving little detail as to the exact numbers involved, or if they even know, at this delicate late stage.

We cannot reveal the numbers of gunmen we suspect are there, but we estimate the operation will end very soon," said military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna.

05.30 Still no official word from the Kenyan authorities that we are reaching a conclusion to the siege but explosions followed by gunfire this morning already.

05.00 More on the gunfire heard in the mall this morning. A Kenyan security source has told AFP that an assault against the al-Qaeda-linked Somali gunmen inside the complex was under way.

Around 15 minutes of fierce gunfire took place, which then subsided. An AFP photographer at the scene said troops posted around the mall ducked for cover.

A photographer with the news agency said troops posted around the scene ducked for cover, and it “sounded as if the shots were coming from somewhere around the mall, or were being fired from a vantage point in the mall.”

The army had described the operation as “delicate” because the gunmen were holding a number of hostages. We still don’t know exactly how many.

04.45 Heavy and sustained gunfire was heard this morning from the Kenyan shopping mall where at least 68 people were killed in an attack by the Somali al Shabaab group. Unclear just yet exactly what the source of it was but it is likely a possible assault by Kenyan security forces.

Kenya's military had earlier said on its Twitter feed that it was making every effort to bring the siege "to a speedy conclusion."

Welcome back to our live coverage of the Nairobi shopping mall attack. You can find Sunday's live coverage here: